CBI: Bursaries needed to attract students to science

Cash should be offered to students as an incentive to study sciences at degree level, it has been suggested.

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) is urging the government to offer students £1,000 bursaries to help overcome the skills shortage in the area.

There are fears that Britain will begin to lag behind world leaders unless the decline is arrested and the CBI is asking the government to follow the example of companies, many of which sponsor students in their scientific study.

CBI director general Richard Lambert said: "Some employers are already finding it difficult to get the right talent and the problem is set to get worse."

He added: "Bursaries towards the cost of degrees which are most useful to the economy could kick-start thousands of young people into reconsidering a future in science."

According to CBI statistics the number of students studying A-level physics has dropped 57 per cent since 1984 and the chemistry students have declined by 28 per cent in the same period.